High-Throughput Capillary Electrophoresis–Mass Spectrometry: From Analysis of Amino Acids to Analysis of Protein Complexes

Abstract

Recent advances in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) interfacing using porous tip is leading to commercialization of CE-MS with a sheathless interface for the first time. The new sheathless interface in conjunction with CE capillary coatings using self-coating background electrolytes (BGE) has significantly simplified CE-MS analysis of complex mixtures. CE-MS, with its high separation efficiency, compound identification capability, and ability to rapidly separate compounds with a wide range of mass and charge while consuming only nanoliters of samples, has become a valuable analytical technique for the analysis of complex biological mixtures. These advances have allowed a single capillary to analyze a range of compounds including amino acids, their D/L enantiomers, protein digests, intact proteins, and protein complexes. With these capabilities, CE-MS is poised to become the multipurpose tool of separation scientists. More recently, an eight-capillary CE in conjunction with an 8-inlet mass spectrometry has allowed 8 CE-MS analyses to be performed concurrently, significantly increasing throughput.